The view from the top of Mt. Livermore on Angel Island State Park.
Photo credit: Casey Lee, California State Parks

Photo: Casey Lee, California State Parks

The view from the top of Mt. Livermore on Angel Island State Park....

Image 2 of 2

Members of the Brondum family including Anna Lise, left, Lauren and Isaac, in blue sweatshirt plan to try a new "smores" recipe beginning with marshmallow cooking. Many Northern California campers may soon have to do without the traditional campfire, but at Samuel P. Taylor Park in Marin County campfires are still permitted. Many federal and state parks are ending campfires in an attempt to prevent wildfires. Photo by Brant Ward / The Chronicle

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Members of the Brondum family including Anna Lise, left, Lauren and...

You can still walk to Berry Creek Falls at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, thanks to work by park rangers and volunteers who built a bypass around a wooden hiker bridge that was crushed by a fallen redwood. You just can't camp nearby at Sunset Camp or other wilderness-style backpack camps until May, thanks to budget cuts.

At Mount Tamalpais State Park, rangers announced in October that the road from Pantoll to the East Peak would be closed on weekdays to deal with budget cuts. The way it's worked out? The road is still open daily. You can drive right up.

The shocker is that Butano Redwoods, a low-maintenance park for hiking, mountain biking and camping, is gated and closed through April. Visitors can park outside the park and still legally venture to its interior.

In this new era following California's budget-deficit triage, state parks in the Bay Area and beyond are a work in progress, a case-by-case study as rangers scramble to keep facilities open. Most of the news is good, only some of it is bad. In many cases, the cutbacks are far different than what State Parks first announced and posted on the internet. In most cases, no updates have been made at the state park's Web site pages since summer.

Here is a case-by-case status report on the Bay Area's top state parks:

Marin

Angel Island State Park: State Parks originally announced there would be major restroom closures on weekdays. Instead, four restrooms are open daily, two at Ayala Cove and two at the U.S. Immigration Station. (415) 435-5390.

China Camp State Park: The gorgeous walk-in campground is open Friday and Saturday nights only, first-come, first-served, through March 25. Campsites are then available by reservation starting March 26 through ReserveAmerica.com. The China Camp Museum is open only on weekends. (415) 456-0766.

Mount Tamalpais State Park: In October, State Parks announced that the road to East Peak and the Bootjack parking area would be closed on weekdays. That was canceled and both areas are now open daily. Pantoll's great walk-in campsites are still open, first-come, first-served. (415) 388-2070.

Olompali State Park: One of the casualties. Open only on weekends, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a new $8 entrance fee. (415) 892-3383.

Samuel P. Taylor State Park: Camping was hiked to $35 per night, approaching low-cost hotel rates in rural areas and now the state park standard. But at least the campground is still open, first-come, first-served through March 25; for dates after that, reservations are available now at ReserveAmerica.com. (415) 488-9897.

Tomales Bay State Park: You may remember that in October, State Parks said Tomales Bay State Park would be open only on weekends and holidays. Nope. This park is open daily, 8 a.m. to sunset. (415) 669-1140.

Peninsula

Candlestick Point State Recreation Area: Little known is that on Thursdays and Fridays, the parking lot is closed here. Rangers say you can still park along the road and enter the park on foot without getting hassled. (415) 671-0145.

Half Moon Bay State Beach: The main state park entrance and campground are still open daily. Cowell Beach is open only weekend until May 1. (650) 726-8819.

Butano Redwoods: This is the stunner: The park is gated at the entrance and is closed to vehicles, with no restrooms or camping available until May 1. You can still park nearby, then hike in to any of the trails or bike on the Butano Rim fire road. None of this information appears on the park's Web site page. (650) 879-2040.

Pescadero/San Gregorio State Beach: Open daily, gated and closed at sunset, just like always. (650) 879-2170.

Año Nuevo State Reserve:

This is prime time here, peak season for elephant seal watching, and Año Nuevo is running full bore, just like past years. Reservations for tours at (800) 444-4445. (650) 879-0227 (very old recorded message), (650) 879-2025 (interpretive center).

East Bay foothills

Mount Diablo State Park:

Here's another park that was on the governor's short list to be shut down, yet the reality is that, except for fees, there have been no significant changes. Access is now $10 per vehicle and camping has been raised to $30 per night. (925) 837-2525.

Santa Cruz Mountains

Big Basin Redwoods State Park:

Here's a backpacker's tragedy: All trail camps, including several of the best in the Bay Area, are now closed through April. The park is otherwise open daily with the fees hiked; $10 per vehicle, $35 for car camping. Even though it has rained nearly 13 inches here in the past six weeks, the park's Web page still features a fire danger warning as the lead item. (831) 338-8860.

Castle Rock State Park:

The gate at the parking lot often doesn't open until 8:30 to 9 a.m. these days, so visitors simply park outside the gate, then walk in and don't pay the fee. Unlike neighboring Big Basin Redwoods, the hike-in trail camp is still open, $15 per night. (408) 867-2952.

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park:

Volunteers are staffing the visitor center, and rangers have closed the campground and two picnic areas, but that's standard here for winter. Otherwise open daily. (831) 438-2396.

Portola Redwoods State Park:

At least the park is open daily, right? Yep. The campground is closed until May 1, which misses the great spring season here (despite the fee jacked up to $35 per night). The Slate Creek Backpack Camp is also closed for winter. Otherwise untouched. (650) 948-9098.

Wilder Ranch State Park:

This is the beauty of state parks. Just show up and go, in this case, ride, amid the best park for mountain biking in California. At one of the terraced lookouts in the coastal foothills, gazing across the ocean, you'd never know there's a budget crisis. (831) 423-9703 (no info provided).

Santa Clara County

Henry W. Coe State Park:

The Dowdy Ranch entrance along Highway 152, which provides nearby access to the remote Oristimba Creek and Rooster Comb area, has been closed. The rest of the park, out of park headquarters east of Morgan Hill and Hunting Hollow out of Gilroy is open, including drive-in campsites and backpack camping. (408) 779-2728.